Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play mix well with spring training baseball

What’s better than spring training baseball? How about a little golf on top courses before catching a game in the Cactus or Grapefruit leagues? Both Arizona and Florida, the annual homes to Major League Baseball’s spring training, are full of great …

What’s better than spring training baseball? How about a little golf on top courses before catching a game in the Cactus or Grapefruit leagues? Both Arizona and Florida, the annual homes to Major League Baseball’s spring training, are full of great courses.

Arizona might have an upper hand, as so many of the state’s top courses are clustered near the Phoenix area, the hub of spring training there. It’s entirely possible to play a quick, early-morning round, then catch a game in the afternoon.

The baseball is more spread out in Florida, with games stretching from the Tampa area, down the southwest coast and all the way across to the Atlantic coast. Some of the best golf, such as TPC Sawgrass, isn’t very close to spring training, but for fans driving south to catch a few games, there is plenty of great golf along the way.

Yankees pitcher Luis Severino throws a bullpen session during spring training at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida. (Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)

Check out the top-ranked courses in each state to see where golf might best mix with any baseball plans. The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in its state to produce the final rankings.

Spring training games begin Feb. 21.